The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi)
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The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi)
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Movie Info

From PARK Chan-wook, the celebrated director of OLDBOY, LADY VENGEANCE, THIRST and STOKER, comes a ravishing new crime drama inspired by the novel 'FINGERSMITH' by British author Sarah Waters. Having transposed the story to 1930s-era colonial Korea and Japan, Park presents a gripping and sensual tale of a young Japanese Lady living on a secluded estate, and a Korean woman who is hired to serve as her new handmaiden, but who is secretly involved in a conman's plot to defraud her of her large inheritance. Powered by remarkable performances from KIM Min-hee (RIGHT NOW, WRONG THEN) as Lady Hideko, HA Jung-woo (THE CHASER) as the conman who calls himself the Count and sensational debut actress KIM Tae-ri as the maid Sookee, THE HANDMAIDEN borrows the most dynamic elements of its source material and combines it with PARK Chan-wook's singular vision and energy to create an unforgettable viewing experience.

Park Chan-wook is a master of classy trash... There's artistry in his filmmaking, but also a lot of blood, plenty of sick humor and moments of sheer lunacy. The Handmaiden ranks among his best films yet.

It's a film that gradually reveals its many layers of deception, is always visually stunning, yet drops one of the most intriguing deceits of the original novel and its new third part where loose ends are tied up seems rather abrupt.

Each frame a picture, the film-critic-turned-filmmaker has a stunning eye for specificity that is reflected in the urgent nuances of every camera movement, every prop, every look, every framing choice.

Park clearly delights in the occasionally ridiculous levels of decadence he heaps on this layer cake of deception and deceit, but "The Handmaiden" shows the filmmaker's genuine tenderness as a real, if tortured love story forms at its core.

Chan-Wook Park's latest masterpiece is a film that really fire on so many different levels of brilliance - incredibly sexy in some moments, astoundingly disgusting in others; strongly dramatic and then building in unbearable tension.

Audience Reviews for The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi)

½

Beautiful, Lurid, and unpredictable. A directorial powerhouse from Park.

Michael S

Super Reviewer

Near faultless film, beautifully acted and photographed, not to mention fantastically edited, and as an adaptation of The Fingersmith it is truly inspired. Though it threatens to cross over into parody during some of the sex scenes it just manages to keep suspension of disbelief thanks to the humour in the script and performances. A dazzling treat; already I can see this being in my top 10 at years' end.

Daniel Parsons

Super Reviewer

½

I'm glad there's still a filmmaker at the talent level of director Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) dedicated to making genuine Gothic romance with style and reverence. The Handmaiden is a ravishing, enrapturing, and momentously engaging movie with dark delights, startling depths, palpable romance, simmering tension, and high-wire twists and turns that keep redefining the story. The absurdly talented filmmaker takes a novel set in Victorian England and adapts the setting to 1930s Korea during the time of Japanese occupation, a fascinating and little-known time period for a Western audience. A poor orphan Sook-Hee (Tae-ri Kim) is pressured into a scheme to trick the wealthy Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim) into being admitted to an insane asylum, her family riches sold. From the opening minutes, The Handmaiden produces immersive drama that pushes the central characters into consistent conflict to achieve their varying goals. They're constantly at odds with one another and themselves. There's even tension between those who hold onto their Korean culture and those who adopt the culture of their oppressors, namely Lady Hideko's perverse and treacherous uncle. Sook-Hee grows an unexpected affection for her mistress, and this includes a burgeoning attraction that the movie communicates with serious sensuality. The passionate lesbian sex scenes are, if anything, a tad restrained from what I was expecting from Chan-wook, and they're definitely far more restrained and absent the male gaze than the still excellent Blue is the Warmest Color. I felt the same carnal desire the characters were discovering, a feat worth celebrating for still staying true tonally without veering into tawdry exploitation. More than the sex or the top-notch technical aspects, it was the characters that hooked me and refuse to relinquish. The deepening relationships and the subtle shifts of loyalty, perception, and desire make what is essentially a twisty and twisted chamber-play into world-class drama. You think it's one kind of movie, and then it flips the script, and then it does it again, each time opening wider this mysterious, dangerous, and invigorating world. My one quibble is that the final twenty minutes feels unnecessary and self-indulgent, Chan-wook finally scratching a few violent tendencies he had been keeping as veiled up to that point. The Handmaiden is a ridiculously entertaining movie that is handsomely mounted, wonderfully acted by its leading ladies, and a romance worth losing your self over. Plus, there's also the sex.
Nate's Grade: A-

Nate Zoebl

Super Reviewer

½

Park Chan-Wook explores the power of narrative (the way you tell a story and its ramifications), creating another astounding visual spectacle full of dark humor, sexual desire, betrayal and revenge, with intense performances and a wonderful production design, editing and score.